Rich chocolate orange cupcakes

Begin by making the candied orange zest. Peel the oranges with a peeler into long strips. Trim the pith to a thickness of 1mm – any thicker than this and it will be too bitter – and cut the strips into a julienne of 2mm

Bring a pan of water to the boil and blanch the orange strips for 3 minutes. Drain and repeat

Bring 200ml of water to the boil with 200g of the sugar and add the orange strips. Cook until the strips become translucent and the water becomes a thick syrup

Drain well (the syrup can be reserved and used as a flavouring in cocktails) and toss through the rest of the caster sugar. Leave for around 15 minutes before dusting off any excess sugar and scattering over a tray lined with baking paper

Leave to air-dry for at least 24 hours, until the peel is crisp. Store in an airtight container until needed

To make the orange caramel, add the sugar to a pan and caramelise until golden brown. Add the orange juice, reduce to a syrupy consistency then whisk in the butter in 2 additions. Leave to cool and transfer to a squeezy bottle

Preheat an oven to 175°C/gas mark 4

To make the cupcakes, beat the sugar and butter together in a mixer

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water and leave to cool before adding to the butter and sugar

Whisk the eggs and add gradually to the mixture until fully incorporated before mixing in the sour cream

Sieve together the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and mix in the salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture in 2 additions

Add the milk a little at a time until the mixture drops from a spoon

Divide the mixture between a muffin tin lined with 16 cupcake cases and bake for about 18 minutes, until a metal skewer inserted into the centre of a cake comes out clean

Remove the cupcakes from the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack

Meanwhile, make the frosting. Bring the milk and orange essence to the boil in a pan. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and once the milk is boiling, pour over the chocolate and mix together until glossy. Leave to cool

Place the butter in a stand mixer and beat for 1 minute before adding the icing sugar and cocoa powder in 2 batches. Fold through the melted chocolate mixture

Transfer to a piping bag with a star nozzle

To finish the cupcakes, inject about 1 tsp of orange caramel into the middle of each cupcake, top with the frosting and decorate with the crystallised orange zest